Srinagar, Apr 16 : The civil society and concerned citizens in the Valley have appealed the political parties not to fuel the fragile situation that has risen due to the killings of five civilians by forces in Kupwara district in the last five days.
Politicians and self-styled experts have been flooding the Delhi-based news channels to ‘discuss’ the prevailing unrest in the Kupwara district following the killings.
For their publicity, these ‘experts’ and spokesmen of political parties have been making statements that go against the common sentiments in the valley and create more anger among people.
Many people made phone calls saying that these self-styled experts and commentators, living far away from the frontier district of Kupwara, make statements that are irrational and far from the facts.
“Such self-styled experts and commentators would make such statements in 2008 and 2010 agitations too and would fuel the anger in the streets here,” said Waseem Ahmad, one of the callers.
“For their promotion and their political ambitions, these self-styled experts are making irrational statements about the Kashmir issue and blaming people for everything here. That is too dangerous,” he said.
Civil society members said that Kashmir situation was so much volatile that even political stalwarts would issue statements with great sense of responsibility and full of political acumen.
The people have urged the mainstream political parties to choose senior political leaders to speak on their behalf to the media about the present fragile situation.
“Young and immature people only vitiate the atmosphere. Their main goal is to keep happy their respective constituencies and win their applause. They don’t care for the situation in Kashmir, but are concerned about their ambitions,” they said.
Dr Sheikh Showkat Hussain, who heads the Law Department at Central University of Kashmir, said that the self-appointed experts are competing in media for appeasement and favours from New Delhi.
“More than the state oppression, narrative of self-appointed experts hurts people too. These people have no knowledge and standing of the situation here,” Dr Hussain told.
Senior journalist, Yousuf Jameel, said that those people who talk in news studios over the prevailing fragile situation are far away from the reality and the place where the civilians have been killed.
“These people do not know the facts on the ground. They talk on the basis of statements from the police and army, heresay, claims and counterclaims, and create confusion among the people,” Jameel, who has been reporting Kashmir from more than two decades, told. (KNS)